The three related entities Encore Capital, Midland Funding and Midland Capital Management are about to be sued again, this time by the Attorney General of the State of Minnesota, Lori Swanson.
Midland just recently settled a class action suit in Maryland. In that case, as part of the settlement, Midland agreed to drop more than 10,000 suits against Maryland consumers.
In Minnesota, Attorney General Swanson alleges that Midland Funding and Midland Capital, which are subsidiaries of Encore Capital, are using improper proof in the form of “robo-signed” affidavits and are contacting, and suing, people for debts that they do not owe. AG Swanson said that consumers have also had difficulties getting Midland to correct their credit reports once Midland’s errors were discovered.
These allegations are similar to the claims made against Midland Funding, Midland Capital and Encore in the the Maryland class action.
In 2009, Midland sued 245,000 suits against individual citizens nationwide, according to AG Swanson. Midland has filed more than 15,000 lawsuits in Minnesota since 2008.
Encore claims that procedures it put in place as a result of a 2008 lawsuit have corrected the problems that AG Swanson has raised and that its “current practices are legally sound.”
-Sheril Stanford